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Sunday, October 7, 2012

Butternut squash and tomato soup: Celebrating all things orange for #SundaySupper


I've left the windows open for a few weeks now. I wanted to be done with the air conditioning (although a few days of lingering heat did cause me to doubt my decision). But tonight chill air creeps in through the window, curls up around the house, and goes to sleep like the fog in T.S. Eliot's poem "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock." The mornings and evenings are getting darker, and a quiet, interior life is starting to settle in, a life of reading, dreaming, knitting, sewing, and, of course, cooking.


Fall is my favorite time of year, for many reasons. The trees dress in their brightest finery, their last party of the season, the world dances with liquid light and reflected color, and streams and rivers run dark with leaf tea. And when the rains come, the chilly air carries the smells of fire and dry leaves, and the urge to bake with rich spices or slowly braise a stew takes hold. And of course, this is the season for soups: warm, satisfying soups that take advantage of a harvest of winter squashes, root vegetables, and the last of the summer vegetables.

This butternut squash and tomato soup is one of my favorite fall soups, which I've adapted slightly from Crescent Dragonwagon's Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread Cookbook, the first cookbook I ever fell completely heads over heels in love with. Warm and filling, the soup is sweetened with some maple syrup. Serve it with a piece of crusty bread for dipping and perhaps with a glass of cider for a simple fall meal. Or it could be a perfect starter later in the season for Thanksgiving.


Ingredients

  • 2 large butternut squashes (alternatively, you can use 4 cups of canned pumpkin instead, just make sure it's good quality)
  • 3-4 Tbsps olive oil or butter
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 4 cups homemade chicken stock (or for a vegetarian soup, use a well-flavored vegetable stock)
  • 1 28-oz can of whole or diced tomatoes
  • 2-3 Tbsps maple syrup plus extra for drizzling
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

FOR BUTTERNUT SQUASH PUREE
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Wash the butternut squashes and split them in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and discard (or you can clean them off and roast them like you'd roast pumpkin seeds). 
  3. Drizzle the cut sides with a little maple syrup and place the halves cut side down on the parchment paper.
  4. Bake the halves in the oven for 50 minutes to an hour. Poke them with a fork to make sure they are soft and cooked through. 
  5. Let them cool enough to handle and to reabsorb some of the liquid that will leak out.
  6. Scoop out the flesh and mash it with a big spoon. (Note: If you double the number of butternut squashes, you can make a lot of extra puree to freeze for other uses. You can use butternut squash puree as a replacement in just about any recipe that calls for pumpkin.) 
FOR THE SOUP
  1. In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook slowly until they are soft and shiny, about 10 minutes. Try to avoid browning the onions. (Take your time with this step.)
  2. Add the stock to the onions, bring it to a boil, lower it to a simmer, and then let it simmer for about 15 minutes. 
  3. Add the tomatoes and their juices, 4 cups of butternut squash puree, and 2 tablespoons maple syrup to the stock. Let the mix heat up again. Then use a hand blender to puree the whole mixture until it's very smooth. (Alternatively, you can use a blender, but you will have to do that in batches.) Add salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle a little more maple syrup on top to serve.  

This is just one of many recipes celebrating fall and one of the most prominent colors of fall, orange (also my favorite color), in this week's All Things Orange Sunday Supper event. Here are all the wonderful recipes and don't forget to join in the Twitter chat using the hashtag #SundaySupper at 7 p.m. Eastern (U.S.) time.

Sunrise (Breakfast and Brunch)



High Noon (Soups, Salads, and Sandwiches)


Sunset (Dinner and Main Dishes)


By the Bonfire (Sweets, Snacks, and Sips)


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